Singapore will add the fourth daily flight between Melbourne and its hub at Changi airport from July, taking its total weekly flights out of Australia to 121.

Singapore, Qantas and Emirates are locked in a battle for dominance of the Kangaroo Route between Australia and Europe.

Since the announcement of the alliance of the latter two carriers, Singapore has responded by adding new routes and upping frequencies.

Singapore, the second-largest carrier out of Australia after Qantas and the leader in flights to Asia, has added 17 weekly services over the past 12 months and introduced more of its flagship Airbus A380s – the largest passenger aircraft – at the same time as the Australian flag carrier has contracted international operations to cut costs.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is expected to deliver a draft ruling on the tie-up between Qantas and Emirates this week, with industry sources anticipating a positive finding.

The addition of extra capacity by Singapore to Asia adds further pressure on Qantas to resolve its network issues in the region, where competitors have more frequencies out of Australia to key business hubs and better connectivity to other destinations.

Qantas will unveil the first part of its latest Asia strategy early in the new year.

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The first phase will focus on retiming flights to ports such as Singapore and Hong Kong to meet connecting flights within the region, and using Emirates’ four daily services out of Australia into the region to add frequency.

The Australian Financial Review understands the airline is also in the planning stages of a more aggressive push into Asia, with a strategy to fly its own aircraft more frequently from Australian capital cities to Singapore and Hong Kong in particular.

Qantas
is also planning a new business-class product and fast-tracking the transfer of Airbus A330 aircraft from its domestic fleet to Qantas International to facilitate the push.

Singapore’s recent capacity growth is a boon for local alliance partner Virgin Australia, which sells tickets on the Asian carrier’s international network via Singapore and takes a cut of every ticket sold.

Subhas Menon, Singapore Airlines’ regional vice-president for the South-West Pacific, said the fourth daily service out of Melbourne, an evening flight, was a first by any international carrier to its hub.

“This fourth daily opens a new window of travel options for our customers in Victoria.

“The benefit is an additional connection to popular destinations like London as well as India and, importantly, reduced connecting times for visitors from Europe and Asia," said Mr Menon.

Separately on Tuesday, Air Canada chief executive Calin Rovinescu said the airline was looking at another city in Australia to add to its direct service from Sydney to Vancouver.